The Little World

How many times have you put the decal on wrong? More that you’d think…

The use of a distinctive insignia or roundel for any particular air force has been mandated for over a century. It was difficult for pilots to identify friends or foes if they have to land and ask a series of questions before resorting to the machine guns. Things happened faster in the air.

So arose the use of visible code patches on the planes – and we follow suit when we put the decals on our models. However, we can make a number of basic errors:

a. Putting a roundel on in the wrong place. Many air forces used one on each wing, top and bottom, plus one on each fuselage side. Plus a tail marking in some cases.

But not all forces followed this convention – The USAAF and US Navy settled on a star insignia on the port wing as seen from above or starboard below. The rationale was that it would be a recognition feature that would be picked up at a further distance than if both wings carried the marking.

b. The wrong roundel for the wrong airplane for the wrong theatre or time. There are reference charts that can tell you when insignia were changed and it does make a difference to the authenticity if you get it right. Anoraks will zero in on this faster than on a shade of green.

c. The roundel put on upside-down. The top of a Soviet star is one point, as is the top of a US star. That top points toward the front of the wing or the top of the fuselage.

You will be laughed at for getting it wrong in Perth. In Texas you will be punched.

d. The roundel skewed.

Study reference pictures and see if the the symbol in the centre points up or down or has been painted to follow a leading edge of a wing or the centre-line of a wing spar. Air forces change these every now and then.

It may lead to confusion if a wing star has different apparent orientation to a fuselage star AKA Israel. The Japanese Air Force has no problems…

In the Royal Australian Air Force And the Royal New Zealand Air Force the kangaroo symbol and the kiwi symbol always face forward while the bums of the two animals face toward Canberra and Wellington respectively. This is military courtesy .

In Canada the red maple leaf in the is central, but any signs or lettering is repeated in two languages: English and Quebec.